The most interesting part of this type of resource is that it is "open." Initially I thought of "open" as being free, but I've come to also value the aspect of open that means anyone can access it. Simply put, Open Educational Resources are any kind of learning or teaching resources (lesson idea, explanations of various concepts, activities, etc) that you can access without paying and often times, without signing in.
Open Source is similar to OER, but of course it's not necessarily educational resources. What's cool about Open Source is that the people who develop whatever program is Open Source, have made the code public so that if you want to modify it, you can.
Copyright has to do with people rights being protected. If someone comes up with a specific product or idea and they copyright it, then other people can't use it without their permission. With the advent of the web, copyright issues have flared right up because it's that much trickier to protect your work/ideas/etc/.
Intellectual Property Rights fits right in with copyright. These rights refer to those protected under copyright of some idea or creation. If someone has an original idea, Intellectual Property Rights can protect that person from getting ripped off if other people want to use that idea.
This site is so cool! It's a place where people can share their images and release people of liability if they want to use those images, without making it so that big ol' companies snatch them up.
Sponsored by the Verizon Foundation, this website supplies learning activities for teachers and students as well as professional development opportunities.
Module 2 Notes
Module 3 Notes
Module 4 Notes